Tuesday, July 09, 2024
The Life of Fools
Lucretius, De Rerum Natura 3.1023 (tr. J.D. Duff):
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Here on earth, in short, the life of fools becomes a hell.P. Michael Brown ad loc.:
hic Acherusia fit stultorum denique vita.
fools: i.e. non-Epicureans; the poet appropriates from the Stoics the claim that sapientia is to be found only within his own school, whereas all outside it are stulti; cf., e.g., V 10, where Epicurus' philosophy is hailed as sapientia. stultorum makes clear that all the earthly torments alluded to in the passage are self-inflicted, and can be avoided by embracing the Epicurean moral code...
